On the 6th, the late Choi Sook-hyun's fellow athletes held a press conference at the National Assembly regarding additional damages caused by the team coach, team doctor, and senior players. At the event, the fellow athletes stated, "The Gyeongju City Hall team was a kingdom ruled by the coach and certain players, where habitual violence and verbal abuse were accepted as normal in a closed and secretive environment. We were beaten more than 10 days a month, and it was unusual not to hear insults; we lived each day under verbal abuse as athletes." / Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] Two teammates who played alongside the late athlete Choi Sook-hyun on the Gyeongju City Triathlon team held a press conference at the National Assembly on the 6th to testify about the abuse the late athlete endured and the abuse they themselves experienced.
The two current triathlon athletes said, "We are teammates who played triathlon together with the late Choi Sook-hyun on the Gyeongju City Triathlon team," and added, "Today, as victims who feared retaliation, we stand here to reveal the truth about Sook-hyun’s unjust and lonely suffering." They further stated, "The Gyeongju City Triathlon team was a kingdom ruled only by the coach and certain players," and "habitual violence and verbal abuse were normalized in a closed and secretive manner."
They exposed cases of physical abuse and harsh treatment, saying, "The coach habitually assaulted and verbally abused Sook-hyun and the players. The team captain also ostracized Sook-hyun and us as a group and repeatedly assaulted and verbally abused us." The late Choi Sook-hyun filed a complaint against the Gyeongju City coach and team doctor in February, reported the violence to the Korea Sports Council and the Korea Triathlon Federation in April, but after no action was taken, she took her own life on the 26th of last month.
◇ Below is the full text of the press conference by the late Choi Sook-hyun’s teammates
We are teammates who played triathlon together with the late Choi Sook-hyun on the Gyeongju City Triathlon team.
Today, as victims who feared retaliation, we stand here to reveal the truth about Sook-hyun’s unjust and lonely suffering.
The Gyeongju City Triathlon team was a kingdom ruled only by the coach and certain players, where habitual violence and verbal abuse were normalized in a closed and secretive manner.
The coach habitually assaulted and verbally abused Sook-hyun and the players, and the team captain also ostracized Sook-hyun and us as a group and repeatedly assaulted and verbally abused us.
In August 2016, the coach bought 200,000 won worth of bread because Sook-hyun gained weight after drinking a glass of cola at lunch, and forced her to eat and vomit with him until dawn.
Also, for eating nuts, the coach hit her head with a container of nuts, pushed her against a wall, slapped her face and chest, and she begged desperately never to eat them again.
In March 2019, she was called to a drinking party by the coach and team doctor and beaten for gaining weight after eating peaches, while Sook-hyun was already crying and apologizing, admitting fault as she was being hit.
Moreover, she was slapped for not doing the dishes, and at a dinner with her parents, the coach told her father to fight under the table and threatened her mother by saying he would flip her over.
During her time as a Gyeongju City athlete, she was beaten more than ten days a month and lived every day under verbal abuse to the point where it was strange not to be cursed at.
She did not receive proper incentives from the coach, and although support funds were provided whenever she participated in international competitions, she was forced to deposit about 800,000 to 1,000,000 won of her own money into a bank account under the team captain’s name.
The harsh treatment was not only from the coach. The team captain, the senior member, always sowed discord among players, ostracized them, and through physical and verbal abuse, drove players into a hellish abyss, causing them to collapse mentally from stress.
In front of that player, we felt like we were not human beings.
Since we shared the same dormitory, we were exposed to the captain’s violence and verbal abuse 24 hours a day, not just during training, and were constantly monitored even when speaking to third parties.
The captain called Sook-hyun’s sister mentally ill, sowed discord between them, and prevented her from getting close to other players, also saying her father was mentally ill and telling her not to get close to him.
Also, when Sook-hyun’s sister was crying loudly alone in her room after being hit by the team doctor while looking at her phone, the captain dismissed it as “putting on a show,” saying, “How can you cry looking at your phone?” and “It seems like you were fooling around behind our backs,” treating her like a mentally ill person and saying, “I comforted her because I was afraid she would run away.”
When the captain saw mistakes during training, he hit players on the head with a water bottle, grabbed me by the collar?knowing I have acrophobia?and dragged me to the rooftop, threatening, “If you want to die, die alone,” and told me to jump, forcing me to beg for mercy and apologize.
Even when I had a cold and was not feeling well, I was beaten with a wooden stick by a senior for not training, causing bruises and injuries that made training difficult.
Despite having a stress fracture and being in a half cast, unable to exercise, the captain said, “I hate seeing you,” and “Don’t show up in front of me,” so I hid in the weight room or warehouse all day except when sleeping.
The captain even entered the room secretly while drunk and asleep, unlocked my phone using fingerprint recognition, read my KakaoTalk messages, and forced me to contact people he disliked in the middle of the night, threatening and ignoring me continuously.
When I said I would leave the team, he threatened me, saying, “If you leave the team, I will sue you for defamation. I never hit anyone,” denying everything.
The team doctor claimed to be a university professor and often said he had undergone surgery, and under the pretext of treatment, touched chests and thighs, causing sexual humiliation.
He even said he would “push Sook-hyun’s sister to the extreme to make her commit suicide,” who was undergoing psychological treatment.
During the Gyeongju Police Station’s witness investigation, the investigating officer said, “I cannot add any sensational statements beyond what Choi Sook-hyun reported,” deleted some testimonies, and when asked how it would be handled, said, “It will probably just be a fine of 200,000 to 300,000 won,” and told us, “If you don’t want to file a complaint, don’t say anything.”
Fearing retaliation and the possibility of meeting the perpetrators at competitions if fined, I felt so anxious after the witness investigation that I could not even train.
The team I joined right after graduating high school was Gyeongju City, and although I was afraid of the oppression and violence from the coach and captain, I thought the hush-hush atmosphere was just the world of athletes and society.
Lastly, I apologize to Sook-hyun’s sister and the bereaved family for not having the courage to file a complaint together with her due to fear of losing our athletic careers.
The late Choi Sook-hyun and all victims, including us, point to the team captain as the top priority for punishment.
We hope the perpetrators will admit their crimes and be properly punished so that an environment guaranteeing the human rights of all athletes can be established.
We know there are still many other victims. We ask that the voices of athletes in the sports community be heard through this incident.
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